Chevalier D'Âmes
by Flyin'ByTheSeat
Summary: After being attacked by a strange creature, Eiji Yamada comes in contact with a girl in a strange school uniform and a badge on her arm. He knows that after what he's witnessed, his life will never be the same. Mostly OCs, but there will be appearances by some cannon characters. Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_Hi there! this is my first delve into the anime fandom that is Bleach (which I do not own)_

_I basically wanted to create a... let's call it a different (French) division of the Soul Society that we all know._

_that being said, I really hope you enjoy this story!_

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**Prologue/Chapter 1 – Fateful Day**

Is there anybody going to listen to my story? I wonder.

What if I said that my life was saved by the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen? Heh... seems like you guys are with me so far. Now what if I told you that this beautiful girl... had died over 100 years ago? Would you still listen? Would you believe me? My name is Eiji Yamada. I'm a junior in high school and I work part time at my family's noodle shop. I'm your average 16 year old, I guess; good friends, do pretty well in school… not very lucky with the ladies, I'll admit. Enough about me, though…

In regards to my story: whether you believe it or not, it's true. Jeez, to be honest, I still can't believe it myself. One moment, I was rushing home to get out of the rain and the next; I end up running for my life from some heinous-looking creature with glowing eyes.

I could swear I heard it say that it wanted to… eat me. The thing looked like a werewolf on steroids; needless to say I believed the creature would do it. Then out of nowhere, she appeared: a young girl with dark blue hair, wearing some odd variation of a girl's school uniform. I was about to open my mouth and speak when she drew her sword from the holster she wears on a strap slung across her body. Immediately after, she charged at the beast to fight it.

Fast forward an hour or two and we were in this abandoned building on an incomplete site, which served as the final location for the battle. There was naught but the sound of the heavy rain falling outside. My eyes, for the longest time, were on the corpse of the mutant werewolf; the rain soaked his silver fur and diluted the pool of blood around him. I turned my attention to the girl sitting on the metal beam across from me. Already, she cleaned away the crimson that stained her toffee skin, treated, and bandaged her wounds. Finally I worked up the nerve to speak.

"What was that… that happened earlier?" I managed through the shock. She looked at me with her entrancing amethyst eyes and a small smile.

"So you can see me after all. You sat there so quietly for about an hour… I was beginning to wonder." Her response to me as she refastened a belt on her left boot.

"You still didn't answer my question." It came out of my mouth rather sharply… didn't really care at that point. "I mean… what the hell is that thing? And who are you?" The mysterious girl picked up her unsheathed sword and pointed it at the dead beast.

"That is called a Nul." She started to explain as she sheathed the naked blade in her hand. "Nul are voided souls that have been left to roam the Earth for too long. They become Nul for many reasons; the most common being they died with some regrets or anger that was never resolved; it is very rare that reason would be that a Chevalier or a Gifted didn't get to them in time. In very few cases a human's soul is a Nul before they even die, due to the atrociously evil acts they committed while living, with no remorse."

My head was spinning. Chevalier D'Âmes? Gifted? Nul? Why did the… Nul, or… whatever come after me? Who is this girl? Before I could even ask, she took a wide band off her arm and threw it to me. As I studied the official-looking badge, she explained everything to me.

"My name is Amarynthe Arceneau-Fitzroy;" she began "I am a Chevalier D'Âmes, an officer of the Court Guard that ushers the souls of the dearly departed home to The Realm of Souls and protects the Living from beings that exist only to consume them in order to gain power – in particular, The Gifted; living beings born with the power to keep the bound and tortured souls that are roaming this Earth from transforming into Nul; creatures that seek out living humans, Gifted… and other souls. The fact that you can see and hear me means that you are in greater danger than any regular human walking this earth… you are one of The Gifted."

I fell off the metal beam I was sitting on and tried my best to stand and back away… no dice; ended up getting some really nice mud stains on the back of my clothes, though.

Me? Gifted?

"There must be some mistake;" I blurted out "I'm just a 16-year old high school student with an after-school job! I'm nobody special!" I said these things hoping this Amarynthe girl made a mistake – hoping she would say sorry for the mix-up and go on her way.

Still, part of me wanted her to stay… wanted to know more and see if there was anything else to my life than just the everyday. She held out her hand.

"So what?" Amarynthe answered calmly. "It doesn't change the fact that you are gifted; it certainly doesn't change the fact that your life is in grave danger."

I looked into her violet eyes again and then at her hand, finally accepting the help to get off the muddy ground.

"I can help you to activate and develop those powers… but only if you trust me." The girl said. I looked in her eyes again. They were unwavering and sincere, but I needed to know for sure.

"You mentioned something about my being able to see and hear you; what did you mean by that?" After I said that, she turned away to pick up her sword… but said nothing as she put it on. Instead, she just walked toward the fence surrounding the abandoned building. I called after her

"Where are you going? Aren't you gonna answer me? Hey, I asked you a question!" I followed after Miss Arceneau-Fitzroy until…

"Hey, what are you doing?! That's the middle of the street!" I yelled.

Thankfully, no one was around for that. No sooner than I thought that, this car was flying down the road. I started to freak because that weird French girl was still standing in the middle of the road.

"What the… hey, get out of there before you get hit, damn it! HEY!" she wasn't moving –wasn't even fazed by the car careening around the bend toward her. I cursed under my breath and started to get her when she raised her hand to signal me to stay where I was.

It was too late for me to go out to save her, too late for me to look away as the car… passed through her. I thought for sure that Amarynthe would be lying in a crumpled, bloody heap further down the road or something, but with that car just cruising down the street and on it's merry way (oblivious to what just transpired)… it was like nothing happened.

"The hell…? H-How…?" was all I could say. She walked over to me while I was still looking at her in wide-eyed shock.

"Only souls that were once one of The Gifted can become Chevalier D'Âmes. Including the sixteen years I've been alive, I've been aiding other souls for over two-hundred years."

How could I not believe anything she said after that? Finally, I calmed down.

"All right; teach me whatever I need to know about this… Gifted stuff." I half-grumbled.

She looked at me with a small smile. "Very good, Mr. Yamada." My face changed again to one of surprise.

"How do you know my name?" I inquired.

As she walked toward the corner she said she saw the name tag hanging from my bookbag. I muttered under my breath as I walked with her… my house happened to be on the way. As we walked together is silence, I looked at her out of the corner of my eye; from that moment on, I realized that my life would never be the same again.

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_So this has been Chapter One!_

_The next chapter will entail the actual battle between Amarynthe and the monster, now known as The Nul._

_Thanks so much for reading!_

_:)_


	2. Chapter 2

_So here's chapter 2 for you guys! Please enjoy!_

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**Chapter 2 - Reflection**

The next morning; it didn't feel the same as the morning used to… why should I expect that, right? I was dumbstruck over what happened yesterday, I couldn't even really sleep, let alone register my mother being upset over me returning home so late… and dirty. My life was turned upside-down at the drop of a hat. I couldn't even bring myself to get out of bed. I sat up, turning my gaze to the world outside my window.

"It's still raining…" I murmured to myself. As I folded my arms and rested them on my window sill, all I could think about was that evening. I thought I was just going to walk home from my friend's house, like I usually did… last night was far from it.

I remember running like I never ran before; my heart was pounding in my ear and this beast was chasing behind me, the muggy heat from its breath permeated through my uniform to my back a couple times; those were some very close calls. I was too afraid to look back. I already knew what my eyes would be so viciously greeted with: wet, gleaming fangs set on sinking into its targeted prey.

The entire time I couldn't think of a single reason as to why it wanted _me_; I hadn't done anything. Immediately I shifted my thoughts to something else… I needed a place to hide, or to find help… something. It was only when I had started looking for help that I realized that no one was around. My only option was to try to lose this thing and hide until I was sure it was safe.

I kept running for what felt like forever until I got to this fenced-in demolition site. I had no reservations about going in; I had to get away – I had to maybe try and lose him in the building… but I never made it inside. Instead, I tripped over a small pile of bricks and landed on the muddy ground, tail-in-the-air.

I scrambled to try and get up and run, but in vain… the behemoth beast had my leg in its clawed and vice-like grip. I couldn't hear myself screaming– pleading for help, I couldn't feel my fingers clawing desperately into the saturated earth; all I could hear was the one thought repeating in my head…

"This is it… the end. I'm gonna die."

What snapped me out of that were an eerie, but pained, wail and the sensation of my left leg dropping toward the ground. I quickly jerked away and turned so I could sit upright and see what was going on. I saw the monster pulling something sharp and metallic– possibly a shiruken-type projectile– weapon out of its wrist and chucking it to the side, and a girl, who I now know as Amarynthe Arceneau-Fitzroy, standing in front of me and drawing her sword.

"Wh… W-Wha-?" was all I could say before she jumped into action.

I watched as she ran toward it, dodging several heavy swipes from the creature's large, powerful, hand-like paws with such agility and cat-like reflexes. The battle went on for, I don't know how long. Exchanging blows, the slashing of her sword versus the strike of the Nul's claws, strange blasts of energy were exchanged. It was a crazy, hard, fierce fight that neither was going to back down from. It went in to try and strike again and it must have left an opening for her to find, because she seized that opportunity to counter and severed the monster's hand.

It roared its frustration as blood gushed out of its freshly delivered injury and its glower intensified as glowing green eyes found Amarynthe again. She remained unshaken as she stared the ravenous beast down. I sat there frozen as it charged at her with bared fangs; I was so scared that I couldn't even yell out to her to watch out. But she dodged, attempting to get behind the beast, but it quickly caught on and, with a malevolent grin, reached its sharp claws up and swiped at her… hard… and followed it with an energy blast for good measure.

Amarynthe landed in a tumbling sprawl. I kept looking at her, waiting to see if she would get up – hell, if she would even twitch – something that let me know she was still alive. I heard a growl and turned toward the creature; its attention was refocused on me.

I remember trying to will my legs to move, my body to get up and run, but to no avail; in no time, the thing was standing over me with its hulking, shadowed body and evil gleaming eyes and raising its mighty, clawed hand in the air to bring down onto my trembling form. That thought started playing in my mind again as those claws came screaming down toward me. The only thing I could do was close my eyes and curl myself up as a last, knowingly futile, attempt to protect myself.

"Damn…"

A few seconds went by and I felt nothing. I had started to think that I had died already until I ever so slightly cracked my left eye open, then fully opened both… all I saw around me was blue light; everywhere I turned my head… blue light. Soon after I heard this muted sound and searched for the source, finally seeing the creature roaring again. I was totally shielded… and left wondering how.

"Wait… where's the girl?" I said to myself and started looking for her. I looked in the spot where I saw her last only to see that she wasn't there but high in the air, charging down at the beast.

I looked at the mutant thing and was startled by how suddenly it jumped at Amarynthe and the effect it left of the ground, shaking from all the force it used. My eyes couldn't leave the scene in the air, the beast readying its fully functioning arm for attack and the girl all set to strike at the perfect moment. The closer they got to each other, the less I saw of the girl until all I could see was the back of the monster.

In that moment… it felt like I had held my breath for so long; I felt a deafening quiet in my ears and seemed to experience seeing everything in slow motion. My eyes widened upon seeing the monster's head jerk backward and the small gleam of silver that jutted out from its back; she had pierced and ran him through. The agonizing silence ended when Amarynthe landed on her feet while the Nul's motionless body landed on the ground with a splashing thud.

I looked at its lifeless carcass as the surrounding blue faded from around me. My gaze darted to the girl as she stooped down to pick up some small device that was near my foot; I could only assume that the mechanism was what shielded me and that she must have thrown it when she came to.

For a moment, she stood there in total silence as she studied the small appliance in her hand. I couldn't help but look her over, noticing the smears of dirt, grit, and blood on her legs and clothes from her injuries and, no doubt, some from the monster. Her strange uniform blazer was torn and her left arm hung limply. Her breath was ragged with exhaustion and her clothes were soaked through and through by the heavy rain. I kept watching her as she shoved the shield device into her side pocket and limped her way into the building with her sword tucked carefully under her arm.

I had never witnessed such awesome power ever in my life; I was amazed by her courage, I was frightened by her strength and ferocity… I admired her heroism. I had to follow her; even if I weren't able to bring myself to ask her anything, even if all I could do say at that moment was "thank you" … it would have been better than just watching her walk away with no clue of how to find her again.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't look at things the same way I used to. Faint howls, I couldn't dismiss as just the wind. Every face I saw belonged to someone that had to be protected. Those that were dear to me became even more so. I made up in my mind that day… I would protect them and those who can't protect themselves from the Nul; I would fight for them.

I gazed out my window, streaked and beaten by the continuous downpour outside.

"When will I see her again?"


End file.
